A Perfect Circle debuts ‘Starless’ live at O2 Academy Brixton after an eight-year UK gap

A Perfect Circle have finally returned to the UK after eight years, and they used the moment to do something simple but high-impact: drop their new single 'Starless' into the set for a live debut. The band brought that play-first energy to O2 Academy Brixton on Wednesday (June 3) and Thursday (June 4), marking the first two dates of their first UK and European tour since 2018, when they toured in support of their fourth album 'Eat The Elephant'.

If you are wondering how they made an eight-year gap feel like a restart button, the setlists give the answer. Both London shows opened with 'The Package' and 'Disillusioned' and then ran a mix of core material and fresh entries, culminating in 'Starless' and the fan favourite 'Judith'. Night two added even more proof that the band is not just recycling nostalgia: they brought back 'Gravity' and 'Orestes' for the first time since 2018, according to Setlist.fm. In other words, this was not a victory lap. It was a controlled re-entry.

For decision-makers, the mechanics matter. Touring is basically a live supply chain: venue availability, production timing, ticketing demand, and rehearsal cycles all have to line up. Here, A Perfect Circle clearly planned the UK return as a launchpad. Just days before the tour began, the band dropped the single 'Starless' and then chose to debut it live at the two London shows. That is the entertainment version of matching product release windows with the first high-attention demand spikes. You ship the thing, then you amplify it while interest is hottest.

They also leaned into a second, underrated lever: attention discipline. During the set, Maynard James Keenan reminded the audience the show was going to be entirely phone-free, with an exception for the last song. “Keep it in your pocket,” he urged, asking fans to be “present” and “in the moment” and to ignore everything “outside of these walls.” The source also notes this approach is similar to what a singer does when touring with Tool. For an industry that relies on shared moments, that is a smart move. Phone-free rules do not just reduce video clutter. They increase the odds that the room feels like one unified event, not a collection of screens.

The setlist strategy then shifts across the two nights, which is where the real fan engagement comes from. On night one, the band broke out 'Kindred' from their collaborative 2024 EP, 'Sessanta E.P.P.P.', and included a cover of John Lennon’s 'Imagine', which featured on their third album 'Emotive'. Night one also featured tracks like 'TalkTalk', 'The Outsider', and 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums', before closing with 'Starless' (live debut) and 'Judith'.

Night two made the swaps that keep the story from getting stale. They replaced 'Kindred' and the Lennon cover with 'Gravity' and 'Orestes'. Both were first performed since 2018, per Setlist.fm, and the swap signalled a band willing to vary the narrative between nights rather than run the same greatest-hits loop. The second night setlist still retained the core arc: 'The Package', 'Disillusioned', 'The Contrarian', 'The Doomed', 'Weak And Powerless', 'Rose', then the returns at the back half, followed again by 'Starless' and 'Judith'.

There is also a small but revealing operational detail. The band’s filming rule was supposed to restrict audience filming to the final song, but for night two they made an exception: the audience could “go on then” and film the last two songs on the setlist. That kind of adjustment shows how live events can calibrate policy in real time. You get the benefits of a controlled environment, then you adapt when the cultural expectation for sharing content pushes back.

After these two UK dates, the band moves on to headline shows in places like Zurich, Paris, Berlin, and more. They will also make festival appearances at Rock Werchter, NOS Alive, Rock AM Ring, and Mad Cool. Then, at the end of the year, they will join forces with Puscifer for a joint tour across South America, Australia, and Japan. Maynard James Keenan is also set to return to the UK in November for a headline tour with Puscifer.

Zooming out, Keenan’s comments in February to NME about balancing three bands and running his wine company Caduceus Cellars add another layer to the business case. He talked about acting when inspiration and energy are there, and he stressed not forcing releases “before they’re ready.” He also explained why he considered bringing the 'Sessanta' tour, a three-way headline run with A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus, to the UK but did not. The problem, he said, is expense. “It’s pretty expensive to do and it is cost-prohibitive because all three bands are splitting everything three ways, including expenses.” For execs and board members, that is a concrete reminder that scaling a multi-party platform is not just about demand. It is about unit economics.

If you run anything that depends on repeatable attention, this is the transferable lesson: A Perfect Circle treated the eight-year UK absence as a launch, not a lull. They used a new release, varied the set to reward commitment across nights, controlled the attention environment, and then extended momentum into Europe and beyond. That is how you convert a long gap into immediate legitimacy. And for peers planning returns after delays, that is the strategic stakes: can you restart with enough freshness to justify the risk, and enough discipline to keep the event feeling worth the ticket every time?